Wales name two uncapped players in callow 23 as Warren Gatland aims dig at Scotland

Wales head coach Warren Gatland has selected two uncapped players in his squad to face Scotland in the Six Nations on Saturday.

Full-back Cameron Winnett gets a chance from the start, joining a back three which includes Josh Adams and Rio Dyer.

The other Wales newbie also plays for Cardiff, back-row Alex Mann, having impressed in the United Rugby Championship and Champions Cup this season.

“Lovely footballer”

Gatland said: “Cameron Winnett is just a lovely footballer and I think he’s going to develop into a quality international player in the future. He’s young and there’ll be no pressure on him.

“We’ve been impressed with the way that he’s trained. He’s done really well in training, progressed really well and following consultation with his surgeon everyone was happy for him to be selected.

“It’s also great that Alex Mann is on the bench and will hopefully get his debut as well.”

It is generally an inexperienced side, although there is some proven quality in certain positions, such as centre, wing and scrum-half where Nick Tompkins, Adams and Gareth Davies reside respectively.

Up front, Ryan Elias, Aaron Wainwright and Adam Beard are the only players with over 23 caps.

Youngster Dafydd Jenkins leads the team as captain and joins Beard at lock, while Corey Domachowski, Elias and Leon Brown form the front-row.

The pack is completed by James Botham and Tommy Reffell who, alongside Wainwright, are the loose trio.

On the bench, Elliot Dee has 46 caps and Tomos Williams has 53, but the rest have fewer than seven, with Kemsley Mathias (1), Keiron Assiratti (2), Teddy Williams (1), Ioan Lloyd (2) and Mason Grady (6) joining the uncapped Mann among the replacements.

“We’ve got some players who were involved in the World Cup so have some experience and then some exciting youngsters and when I look at that forward pack, it’s not a small forward pack. It’s a big forward pack,” Gatland added.

Absentees

Centurion George North misses out because of injury and lock Will Rowlands has yet to join up with the squad due to family reasons.

“George got quite a big stinger in terms of his shoulder and didn’t take part in full training last week so Owen Watkin comes into the midfield,” the head coach said.

“Will hasn’t come into the squad yet. His wife had a baby a couple of weeks ago in France and unfortunately there were some complications. So the message to him has been you stay home and be with your family. We always talk about how important that is and he’ll turn up when he’s ready.”

Wales’ boss also took the opportunity to land a couple of blows on Scotland, who have not beaten the Welsh in Cardiff since 2002 and have decided to keep the roof open for the Six Nations encounter.

“Scotland haven’t won here in a long, long time and it’s an opportunity for us to continue with that record,” Gatland added.

“The roof’s going to be open, Scotland want the roof open which I think is a little bit disappointing from an atmosphere point of view, because when that roof is shut it does tend to create a lot more atmosphere and noise in the stadium. But that’s the decision that they made.”

Wales team to face Scotland

Wales: 15 Cameron Winnett, 14 Josh Adams, 13 Owen Watkin, 12 Nick Tompkins, 11 Rio Dyer, 10 Sam Costelow, 9 Gareth Davies, 8 Aaron Wainwright, 7 Tommy Reffell, 6 James Botham, 5 Adam Beard, 4 Dafydd Jenkins (c), 3 Leon Brown, 2 Ryan Elias, 1 Corey Domachowski
Replacements: 16 Elliot Dee, 17 Kemsley Mathias, 18 Keiron Assiratti, 19 Teddy Williams, 20 Alex Mann, 21 Tomos Williams, 22 Ioan Lloyd, 23 Mason Grady

Date: Saturday, February 3
Venue: Principality Stadium, Cardiff
Kick-off: 16:45 GMT
Referee: Ben O’Keeffe (New Zealand)
Assistant Referees: James Doleman (New Zealand), Angus Mabey (New Zealand)
TMO: Brendon Pickerill (New Zealand)

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